Everything You Always Wanted to Hear on the Moog

...but were afraid to ask for! Classical Moog, classically bad.

Here it is: everything you always wanted to hear on the moog... but were afraid to ask for! This great disc of classical Moog music, "Semi-conducted" (get it?) by Andrew Kazdin and Thomas Z. Shepard, features works by Chabrier, Lecuona, Bizet, and an incredible 14 minute rendition of Ravel's Bolero that fills the entire second side of the record.

There's a lot of electronic computer technology in music today, but in the days of the Moog, electronic music really sounded artificial. That's exactly what makes records like this so frightening to the musical establishment... and such treasures to the rest of us. From tinny sounds that you can almost recognize from their analog counterparts to spacey flourishes that only exist in Moogspace, these tracks bring a thoroughly unique perspective to the tunes they cover.

Most Moog albums employ a number of traditional instruments (especially drums), but not this one: it is entirely synthesized on the Moog, right down to fake applause at the conclusion of Bolero. The liner notes go to some length to remind the listener of the massive creative effort that goes into producing an album like this. With only one sound at a time to work with, reproducing a complex score can involve up to 20 tracks per song, and countless hours of work. You really have to hand it to Kazdin and Shepard for putting that kind of work into a record that was most probably panned by every music critic of its day. Moog on!

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